Greater Goods Coffee Roasters puts local causes front and center

Greater Goods Coffee founders Khanh Trang and Trey Cobb are making local philanthropy a big part of their coffee business.

Each bag sold of Greater Goods Coffee Roasters — a local business in the middle of officially launching — is supporting a cause.

Being charitable is one of the central missions behind the home-grown coffee company, which is making sure a portion of the proceeds from each bag of roasted beans goes toward one of four area nonprofits: Austin Pets Alive, the Autism Society of Central Texas, the Capital Area Food Bank and the Boys & Girls Club of Austin. The bags are even color-coded by charity so that you’ll know exactly which organization you support by buying the coffee.

Greater Goods co-founders Trey Cobb and Khanh Trang, who double as partners in business and life, decided they didn’t want to just responsibly source the beans they get for the coffee roasting, although that’s a big part of their operation as well.

Part of the proceeds from each of the different varieties of Greater Goods Coffee goes toward charity.

“Coffee philanthropy is nothing new, but we thought why not create amazing coffee and give back, right here in our own backyard?” Cobb said in a press release.

Working out of a Dripping Springs facility, the couple is roasting up a range of Greater Goods coffee products, from single-origin to espresso blends. The 15 different options — which are all available now via the Greater Goods website — include Life Saver, a Guatemalan roast with notes of honey and orange, and Stimulate, an espresso blend full of citrus and a creamy finish. (Two others, Spark and Kickstart, have already earned medals in the Golden Bean Coffee Roasters competition.)

Both Cobb and Trang are careful about where they get the beans for each of their products, according to the release. Only 2 percent of the coffee grown worldwide meet Cobb and Trang’s strict standards, specialty-grade requirements that help them secure the best of the beans out there.

“Coffee is very dynamic, due in part to factors such as soil, elevation, when it was harvested and how it was processed,” Trang said in the press release. “Our approach in finding and highlighting the best attributes of each coffee is equal parts art and science. Once these traits are found, we consistently roast it so the coffee you fall in love with remains the same week after week.”

Greater Goods Coffee is already poised to have a big year: Whole Foods has picked up the brand and will start carrying it on shelves very soon. Bee Cave Coffee, Thyme & Dough and Thom’s Market are carrying it now. Plus, Greater Goods will be opening “both a grab-and-go outpost and a more traditional coffee shop, with training and event space that can be utilized by their charitable partners, later this year,” according to the press release.

For more information — including what the purchase of a bag of Greater Goods Coffee Roasters will get for each of the four nonprofits — visit greatergoodsroasting.com.